This site originated as my personal My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fan blog, dedicated to exploring my favorite currently airing TV show as a work of postmodern art. It has since evolved into blogging about media in general, with a focus on animation. Most of the articles are pretty standalone, and those which aren't have links in their first paragraph, so if you want you can just dive right in.
If you clicked this link, though, you probably want a little guidance as to where to begin reading this project. Originally, I updated weekly, and all I posted were the core My Little Po-Mo articles. Starting in late January 2013, however, I switched to a daily update schedule, with Sundays when I post the meat of the project, the Friendship Is Magic episode analyses. These are generally analytical essays (usually around 1200-1500 words) that explore the episodes from a postmodern perspective, written with the assumption that the reader is intelligent, has seen all of the series to date, and knows little or nothing about media studies or postmodernism. I try to avoid jargon, and when I can't I try to make sure to clearly explain it.
I say "generally" because some of the analyses include something other than essay-format text. Some include video clips in which I talk over scenes from the episode, in order to make a point about the visuals or directorial choices. Others are text, but a little more... experimental than a standard essay.
Here's every article so far:
- Dear Princess Celestia... (Introduction): Probably the best place for new readers to start, even if you're not planning to read every article from the beginning. It summarizes what I'm trying to do and why.
- Hiiiiiiiiii Giiiiiiiiiirls... (Mare in the Moon/Elements of Harmony)
- I never thought it would happen. My friends have turned into complete JERKS! (The Ticket Master)
- Good gravy, girl! What's wrong with you? (Applebuck Season)
- I don't get it. How can somepony not become instant best friends with me? (Griffon the Brush-Off)
- These two ponies have a bit of a grudge match they're trying to settle. (Boast Busters)
- I'm the monster. (Dragonshy): Includes the first My Little Po-Mo vlog!
- Honey, Rarity thinks everything's uncouth. (Look Before You Sleep)
- Doors are barred and shutters shut/Guess I should've stayed inside my hut (Bridle Gossip): In which I go rather over-the-top in accusing MLP of racism. A rather better, more reasoned and restrained, version (which is the one I used in the book) is here.
- Friendship Is Alchemy: A series-within-a-series about the show's first-season identity crisis and resulting transmutation.
- Prologue: Does anypony have a toupee? (Swarm of the Century)
- Nigredo: We're doomed (Winter Wrap-Up)
- Albedo: Those ponies over there are watchin' me! (Call of the Cutie)
- Xanthosis: Just make the whole thing, you know, cooler. (Fall Weather Friends)
- Rubedo: You see? We are apple pie! (Suited for Success)
- It's not scientifically possible. *You* are not scientifically possible! (Feeling Pinkie Keen)
- I'm an egghead (Sonic Rainboom)
- Not at all! I *am* weak and helpless, and I appreciate their understanding. (Stare Master): Like the episode, takes a third-act turn into a different genre of blog post.
- Tree sap and pine needles, but no cutie mark. (The Show Stoppers)
- Out of all the things that could happen, this is the WORST! POSSIBLE! THING! (Dog and Pony Show)
- P.S. Obviously Spike did not have to learn a lesson, because he is the best, most awesome friend a pony could ask for. (Green Isn't Your Color)
- We brought this blizzard to our home by fightin' and not trustin' each other. Now it's destroyin' this land, too. (Over a Barrel)
- I'm just good with animals. It's my special gift, you know. (A Bird in the Hoof)
- From all of us together: Together we are friends. With the marks of our destinies made one, there is magic without end! (The Cutie Mark Chronicles): Another experiment. Six short essays linked by a shared framework, together forming a meditation about destiny.
- Twilight Sparkle. I mean seriously, I can't even work with that. (Owl's Well That Ends Well): Includes the second My Little Po-Mo vlog!
- All I really need's a smile, smile, smile/From these happy friends of mine (Party of One)
- This day was going to be perfect/The kind of day of which I dreamed since I was small (The Best Night Ever)
- Fire the Orbital Friendship Beam (Double Rainboom)
- Last Survivor of Gallopfrey (Time Lords and Terror)
- Welcome to the Herd (Friendship Is Dragons)
- Okey-dokey Loki (The Return of Harmony): My most experimental essay to date. Does to a normal essay what Discord did to Ponyville, basically.
- All the ponies in this town are crazy! Do you know what time it is?! (Lesson Zero)
- Hello, everypony! Did I miss anything? (Luna Eclipsed)
- This isn't at all what I imagined. (Sisterhooves Social)
- And that's how Equestria was made (Family Appreciation Day/Hearth's Warming Eve): Another experimental post, this time covering two episodes side-by-side in two intertwining columns.
- Haters gonna hate. (My Little Po-Mo): Yes. Really. As colossally self-indulgent and pretentious as you would expect, but what else is new?
- [Pony] Is My Waifu (Snowdrop)
- Mods Are Asleep (The Return of Queen Chrysalis, Parts 1-4)
- The Glorious Lunar Republic (The Lunaverse, Season One)
- I couldn't face the truth, so I started tellin' lies. Can you ever forgive me? (Hearth's Warming Eve/Family Appreciation Day): The counterpart to the previous article on these two episodes, this time braided together rather than merely intertwined.
- Sure I could tell you I learned something about how my friends are always there to help me... (The Last Roundup)
- Even if you simply have to fudge it/Make sure it stays within our budget (The Super-Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000)
- I acted pretty awesomely heroic that day (Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone): Another experimental post. Rather than analyzing "Read It and Weep," this post analyzes an episode of The Adventures of Daring Do that is identical to "Read It and Weep" in every detail of the text.
- Give us all a lesson on your amazing loop-de-hooping! (Hearts and Hooves Day)
- But I was just... (A Friend in Deed)
- Please don't be mad at us. (Putting Your Hoof Down)
- The Pony Who Holds My Fate In Her Hooves (It's About Time)
- This isn't quite what I expected. (Dragon Quest)
- Don't worry, old Fluttershy's back for good. (Hurricane Fluttershy)
- Heheh. Who knows? (Ponyville Confidential)
- Sometimes it's just really fun to be scared! (MMMMystery on the Friendship Express)
- Princess Cadance needs our help/Her magic will not last forever/I think we can do it/But we'll need to work together (A Canterlot Wedding): A post which really should have been called "You're going to LOVE ME! (A Canterlot Wedding)"--I'll have to fix it for the book.
- To the Moooooooooooooon! (Nightmare Rarity, Parts 1-4)
- Hate Detected (Turnabout Storm)
- My Favorite Background Pony is Applejack (Background Pony)
- Save Derpy (Doctor Whooves and Assistant)
- I've finally figured out why you're having so much trouble being liked! (The Crystal Empire)
- Maybe something less over-the-top and not so super-hyper (Too Many Pinkie Pies)
- I'll be embarrassed, shamed, disgraced, mortified, humiliated... (One Bad Apple)
- You will never have the amazing, show-stopping ability (Magic Duel)
- Actually, Twilight Sparkle, I'm the main singer tonight (Sleepless in Ponyville)
- The Wonderbolts will never let a loser like me join! (Wonderbolts Academy)
- Now hold on, everypony. We've done our best to improve supply this year. (Apple Family Reunion)
- That's future Spike's problem (Spike at Your Service)
- Sometimes it can be hard for a shy pony like me to stand up for myself (Keep Calm and Flutter On)
- SPIKE WANT! (Just for Sidekicks)
- I'm bored. (Games Ponies Play)
- I don't know when she changed, but she changed! (Magical Mystery Cure): A prose sestina.
- I wonder where I'm going now/What my role is meant to be/I don't know how to travel/To a future that I can't see (Magical Mystery Cure)
- Glorious pegasus master race (Rainbow Factory)
- Hit its weak point for massive damage (My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Volume 3 and 4)
- RIP Golden Oak Library (The Elements of Harmony)
- Ponify everything! (My Little Investigations Case 1: True Blue Scootaloo)
- Gak (Equestria Girls)
- Did you say she was a tree? (Princess Twilight Sparkle): In which I take the flimsiest of pretexts to fling Qabbalah at you. And yet with every episode in the Key arc, it gets less flimsy...
- You turned into a vampire pony! (Castle Mane-ia)
- Another day, another dungeon! (Daring Don't)
- TLC as in Tender Loving Care or Totally Lost Cause? (Flight to the Finish)
- Holy guacamole! (Power Ponies)
- Round up our critters (Bats!)
- It isn't nothing, it's everything! (Rarity Takes Manehattan)
- And tell that big dumb scary face to take a hike and leave you alone and if he thinks he can scare you then he's got another thing coming and the very idea of such a thing just makes you wanna... (Pinkie Apple Pie)
- What am I gonna do? I'm never gonna win the competition now! (Rainbow Falls)
- I've had just about enough (Three's a Crowd)
- Don't you see? When I was a little filly... (Pinkie Pride)
- I don't even know what I'm supposed to wallow in! (Simple Ways)
- But, you know, whatever you want to do is fine (Filli Vanilli)
- At least the other ponies tried to be subtle about the ticket (Twilight Time)
- Oh, I'm sorry. I'm trying to be more assertive (It Ain't Easy Being Breezies)
- I AM a big pony! (Somepony to Watch Over Me)
- Become instant best friends... uncheck (Maud Pie)
- Hush now! Quiet now!/Lay your sleep head! (For Whom the Sweetie Belle Tolls)
- How in tarnation are we supposed to tell which is the real (Leap of Faith)
- There's something wrong with the baby (Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3)
- Like you wanted, remember? (Trade Ya!)
- I don't see any disasters (Inspiration Manifestation)
- Let me help you (Equestria Games)
- Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle (Twilight's Kingdom): Enlightenment, creativity, trees, and light.
- “...it's very sweet of you to offer, but I don't think that's exactly what the little ponies had in mind. ” (The Movie): A guest post on the Generation 1 TV movie by Spoilers Below.
- Firefly is Best Pony (The My Little Pony Special/Rescue at Midnight Castle/Firefly’s Adventure): Another guest post on Generation 1 by Spoilers Below.
- Tell me what's doing; anything brewing? (Escape from Catrina): You guessed it! A guest post on Generation 1 by Spoilers Below.
- Cupcakes - so sweet and tasty/Cupcakes - don't be too hasty: A guest post by Charles Dunbar on how darkfic made him a brony.
- Elements of Harmony 1: Rarity Is Best Pony: The first of a series where Kickstarter backers could pick a pony and commission me to write an argument for why that pony is best pony.
- Elements of Harmony 2: Applejack Is Best Pony: The second in the series.
- Elements of Harmony 3: Zecora Is Best Pony: The third in the series, and at this point I'm starting to suspect the people commissioning these are deliberately messing with me.
- We have to find them before ponies start to panic (Day of the Doctor)/Where I've always been going: Home, the long way around (Princess Twilight Sparkle): In which I abuse the fact that the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special and the Friendship Is Magic Season 4 premiere were on the same day to relate them to one another. As a commenter pointed out, it should REALLY have been called "Equestria Stands (Day of the Doctor/Princess Twilight Sparkle)."
- The Sun is very important (The End of Flutter Valley): More Spoilers Below on Generation 1.
- On Clop, Bronies, and Furries: A guest post by Charles Dunbar on how searching for a particular image he wanted led him to discover derpibooru and the intersecting worlds of bronies, clop, and furries.
- Get back, you! One bad apple spoils the bunch! (One Bad Apple): A guest post by Spoilers Below offering an alternative view on "One Bad Apple."
- Do it again, Megan! Make it go away! (The Ghost of Paradise Estates): Yep, Spoilers Below on Generation 1.
- Magical Mystery Cure: The "Con" Position: Alicorn Priest on the reasons behind the angry response to Twilight becoming an alicorn.
- "Resistance Is Useless!" (The Great Rainbow Caper): Spoilers Below with still more Gen 1 goodness.
- “Maybe in your world, but in our world, Spike--uh, Hum Drum always comes through when we need him! Always!” (Twilight’s Kingdom): An absolute tour de force by Spoilers Below, a monster review of the Season 4 finale as if it were the finale to Season 28 of a never-canceled Gen 1 series.
- Get Equipped With Magic (Mega Pony), Part 1: The first part of a collaboration between FreezingInferno of The Nintendo Project, Resumed and myself, on the fan-made Friendship Is Magic/Mega Man crossover game Mega Pony. Part 2 is here.
- Elements of Harmony 4: Princess Celestia is Best Pony: The resumption of the series, now as a reward for backers of My Little Po-Mo volume 2.
- Elements of Harmony 5: Big McIntosh is Best Pony: Another backer reward.
- Commissioned Essay: From a feminist perspective, has MLP:FIM changed the world?
- Commissioned Essay: Princesses as Celebrities in Equestria
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